Very Nearly Done...
Certain Methods
Word Count: 3,275
Rating: PG-13
Pairing/Characters: Okay, definitely going down the Dani/Nico route, definitely some Harriet/Bud. Not sure about the Harm/Mac angle yet. But Chegwidden features heavily/centrally to the story, too.
Spoilers: Although I reference something from 1x12, I'm actually going to set this after 1x10 for Necessary Roughness. For JAG? Um... season two, definitely related to that season. Specifically "Secrets" and "Ghosts," and a lot of this won't make sense if you don't know those eps. Otherwise, the spoilers/timeline from JAG is kind of... vague.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I just break things.
Summary: Direct, indirect. Legal, illegal. Military, Civilian. Every person has a different method for handling situations. Some are better than others.
Author's Note: Again, as the title describes. :)
Almost Wrapped Up
"Papa, you are bleeding," Francesca chided, putting her hand up to AJ's head, touching the cut he'd gotten on his way into her. She seemed none the worse for what she'd been through, not that they'd reached her yet, but they'd still been too damn close for his comfort. He wrapped his arm around her gratefully, once again thanking Nico's instincts for being what they were-right and just in time, too. "What is the matter?"
"Just afraid I might lose you," he admitted, tightening his hold. She laughed a little, and he shook his head. If she'd seen what was coming for her, she would feel differently. "Need you to come with me now. Promised the lieutenant there we'd go back for his girl the minute I knew you were safe, and that's what we're going to do."
"Papa, must I-"
"Please," Roberts broke in. "I'm really worried about Harriet, and you really were in danger, and we were just in time, but if we aren't in time for Harriet, then... I don't know what I'll do. Please."
Francesca frowned as she looked at him, and AJ led her toward the door, past the men who had been watching out for her. She gave a small gasp when she saw the ones that had fallen outside the door. "What... What has happened?"
"They're unconscious, and ambulances are on their way," Roberts told her, glossing over part of it. AJ knew that he'd killed at least one of the men he'd fought. It hadn't been his intention, and he knew he'd answer for it, but there was no way that he would have let them get close to his daughter and there were already men from Nico's teams lying dead. It was as justified as it could get, even if no one else saw it that way.
"I did not realize-Mi dispiace, Papa. Forgive me?"
"Nothing to forgive," AJ insisted. "I didn't really want you knowing how bad the situation was, and it's my fault for not warning you properly."
She nodded, leaning against him. He led her along, knowing that none of this was good. He knew that people would have a lot of questions, not just for AJ but for everyone involved, and they didn't even have the man that Osborne was working for, not yet. Roberts was quiet, still worried.
"Call the others. See if you can get through this time."
Roberts nodded. He reached for the phone, using the speed dial as they used the elevator to go down to the ground floor. "Still nothing from Commander Rabb or the major."
AJ didn't like the sound of that. He dug out his own phone, pushing a button. "Be there, Lieutenant, or I'm kicking your ass."
The call connected on the third ring. "No need to follow me to hell yet."
AJ shook his head. "We'll see about that. Sitrep?"
"Things were bad here, lost more good people," Nico admitted, sounding tired. "Sims performed admirably, though, and I'd promote her if I were you-or give her one of those medals they love giving. Tell Roberts she's... Well, fine would be a stretch, but she's not dead."
"How bad?"
"A concussion and a few bruises, not as bad as it could have been. I figure they thought she was dead and didn't bother checking. She wasn't one of the ones that Osborne really wanted, and if she'd woken up, he would have gone after her."
"Santino and Juliette?"
"Alive and well, one flesh wound."
"You?"
"More of their blood on me than mine," Nico answered, avoiding the question, as usual. "Francesca?"
"They were close, but she's fine. Can't get Rabb or Mackenzie, though."
"Maledizione," Nico muttered on the other end. "I tried to send them to the other safe house. Roberts will want to know that Sims is all right. Let me get her on the phone, and then maybe you can go by there and tell me what the situation is. I am... stuck at the moment."
"Stuck?"
"Three women have threatened to tie me up if I even think about moving, and two of them haven't let go of me since got here," Nico said, causing AJ to laugh. He knew the other man was probably grumbling about that, but Nico was probably happier about it than he'd admit. It was a funny image nonetheless. "Here. Sims for Roberts."
AJ passed the other man the phone. Roberts immediately started in. "Harriet? Oh, thank goodness. I'm so glad to hear your voice. I've been so worried. I didn't even-What? You... Oh. Oh, wow. You... I..."
Roberts was too distracted to notice anything else as they got in the car. Francesca smiled warmly as she sat down in the front, listening to Roberts' half of the conversation as AJ started the car and drove them toward the safe house where Nico had put Santino's children. Mackenzie and Rabb... They could handle themselves.
And if they didn't... Then AJ would track them down in hell.
"Webb? The hell are you doing here?"
"Nice to see you, too, Admiral," Webb muttered, frowning a little as he took in the sight of the admiral's daughter. Bud had a feeling this was only going to get more awkward as this went on. He really wished that he could just go to Harriet already. He'd spoken to her on the phone, but he was still worried. She didn't sound like herself. "I came here to take care of the Santino children."
"You did? Why you?"
"After the explosion at the house where Rabb, Mackenzie, and I were, they sent me on ahead. It was a decision we had been discussing before everything went to hell there, and afterward, I was the obvious choice," Webb answered, rubbing at his shoulder a little. "I got a few bruises from 'hitting the deck' as you might phrase it. I'm fine, by the way. I can see you saw a bit of action yourself."
"They got close to my daughter. Made me very angry."
"I don't doubt it. What happened to Careles? Thought you were with him."
"I was, for a while," Chegwidden agreed, looking past Webb at the older woman with her arms around the two teenagers. Neither of them looked all that much like Santino, but there was the father to figure into that. "Are they ready to move?"
"Yes. They would like to see their mother, however, none of them actually trust me, so I'm not sure that they're willing to move, even if they are able to."
Bud looked at them. "Perhaps you should call Nico, sir. He could let Santino talk to her children, and I think that would help."
The admiral pushed a button and gave Bud the phone, and he frowned nervously as it rang. As soon as he heard what sounded like the click of someone picking up, he started talking. "Uh, this isn't the admiral. It's Bud. Bud Roberts, Jr, and I-"
"Relax, Bud. I was told you'd be giving the phone to my children-or my mother. Any of them is fine," Santino said on the other end of the line. Bud blinked, wondering how Careles could possibly have known that. He didn't understand, unless maybe Careles knew that the admiral would not have called if things were bad, but that wasn't really much of a-maybe he'd talked to someone else here already. That could be it.
"Yes, ma'am. Er, Dani," Bud agreed, offering the phone to the three of them. The girl got to it first.
"Mom? What is going on? Some really big men took us from the house and locked us up, and then there was some shooting right out of one of those movies, but the men here said it was fine, and Xeno tried to tell us everything was okay, but where have you been and what is going on and why are we with Xeno again? Why can't we-You're sure? It's over? And the bald guy and the fat one are here to take us to you? Not sure what the model is doing here, but what about the slimey one in the suit?"
Bud looked down at his stomach. Was he really that fat? He didn't think so, but he hadn't had a physical in a while, and that might be an issue. He'd have to ask Harriet. She would be honest about it, but gentler than the admiral if he asked him.
"Okay, okay, here's Ray Jay," the girl said, giving him the phone. The older woman didn't seem all that happy about it, and Bud figured that Santino was going to hear from her mother when they got them all in the same room, but that was really only to be expected.
Bud forced a smile. "We should probably get in the car. I'm sure you want to see your mother. And Careles. And maybe Juliette. I want to see Harriet. I need to see Harriet."
"I'm not sure who Juliette is, or this Harriet, and I only think I know that Careles is the creepy guy who runs security for the Hawks, but okay, fine, whatever. I want to see my mom," the girl said, moving toward the car.
"Oh, boy," Bud muttered, watching her. She was going to be in for a bit of a surprise when she got to the safe house, then. Careles was a lot more than the head of security to Santino, and he had a daughter to throw in the mix. This could be very bad. Ugly and unpleasant. Maybe he could go somewhere private with Harriet instead.
He went back to the admiral and Francesca. "Do you think we should be the ones driving them?"
"As long as they get to the safe house, it won't matter."
"Okay."
"Spit it out, Lieutenant."
"Well, it's just that the children don't seem to be aware of the situation between their mother and Mr. Careles, sir, and I have a feeling that's going to be a bit of a problem when we get back to the safe house," Bud admitted.
To his surprise, though, the admiral just laughed.
This place would get very crowded very soon, Nico thought, and he knew that he did not want to stay here for that. He needed to get out before that happened, though with Juliette still wrapped around him, Danielle leaning against him, and Sims watching when she was awake, it was not going to be easy to escape. There were people who should get medical attention, and many other things to do to completely resolve this. Just because Osborne was no longer an issue did not mean that it was all over.
He tried to get up again, and they yanked him back down. "No moving."
"You can't keep me here forever. We have much to do," he told them, getting dark looks from both of them. "People need help, remember?"
"You already called ambulances. You wouldn't have left all of those people injured without making sure they were getting treatment, even if you were in a hurry to get to us," the doctor insisted. "You just want to escape before my family gets here, don't you?"
"I am not intimidated by your mother or your children," he disagreed. He was not fond of crowds, and he knew this was not done. Let them have their reunion. He had things to clean up, and that was a job that he knew very well. "There will be a lot of questions when the authorities arrive."
"Or you could allow my people to handle that."
Nico looked at Webb and shook his head. "I don't think so."
"Mom?" Lindsay exchanged a look with her brother, and the boy shrugged a little. Nico nudged Santino's shoulder. She should go to her kids and mother. There would be a lot of discussion going on, explanations to be given, and it was past time that some of the trash was dealt with. "Mom, what is going on here?"
"Well, only a little while ago, Nico saved our lives," Santino began, getting to her feet. She touched her arm where she'd been clipped, wincing a little. "This could have been a lot worse, but it's over now."
Nico knew it wasn't, but he didn't say anything, not now. The worst part of it was, and Osborne's protector, his puppet master, he would be expecting everyone to believe that it ended with Osborne when it had not. He sighed and slipped out from underneath Juliette, picking her up with a grunt and taking her into the bedroom that had not been destroyed. She could continue to rest there.
He stopped for a moment, trying to ease the various aches. This past week had definitely taken its toll on him, and he would need time to deal with that, too.
"Thought I told you not to die."
"I told you the blood wasn't all mine," Nico countered, turning around to face Chegwidden. "Osborne's, actually. Beat you to him."
"I knew there was a reason you sent me after Francesca," AJ joked a little. "Saw Santino for myself, thought I'd make sure the girl was all right."
"She is. Just finally worn out between the sugar and the stress of the afternoon," Nico said, taking another look at Juliette. He had very nearly been too late. She might have been better off if he'd left her in rehab, since one of them must have led Osborne to this safe house or the others. It should not have been compromised like this. "We still have work to do."
"The CIA is all over this."
"The CIA started this. Maybe not with the full consent of all of its members and not with their knowledge, but this is their mess, and I don't trust them."
"Neither do I, but it might be good to take a step back, watch the dirt settle, and see who profited from all of this. That answer is going to get us the one that we really need to find. The one who is going to pay for this."
"I suppose since I got to kill Osborne, you get that one."
AJ almost smiled. "That's almost fair. Let her sleep. The situation with Santino's family should have died down by now. Come back out with the others for a while. Oh, and change the shirt, Lieutenant."
Nico shook his head, letting the other man leave before he went to the closet and took out a suitable replacement for the shirt that was now covered in blood. As he did, he stopped to examine his latest wound, dismissing it as a minor nuisance. It was no longer bleeding, and that was enough for him. He would find a way out of the gathering in the other room, and then he would finish this.
He returned to the front room, aware of all the eyes on him. "Is there a problem?"
"Well, uh..." Lindsay began, but her brother elbowed her.
"So Mom says you're like a... hero. That you snuck up and saved the day."
"I'm an assassin, kid, and I did what I was trained to do," Nico disagreed, moving toward the back of the room. He saw Sims cradled in Roberts' arms, and he knew that the woman would have a hard time getting him to let her out of his sight again-if he ever let her out of his arms.
"Nico," Santino began in warning. "Stop trying to scare my children. You were a soldier-and yes, you did complete missions that asked you to kill, to assassinate. I am not denying that. But what you did for us today was not an assassination. It was a rescue."
Nico forced a smile. She didn't understand. Just because he had done it to save her life didn't mean that he hadn't been thinking about doing it for years. He did not have to kill Osborne-he could have disabled him instead, but Nico had not been willing to let him live. The threat to Santino and Juliette would excuse him in the minds of most people, but he was not a hero.
"The man couldn't take a compliment if it bit him in the ass, Doctor," AJ said, shaking his head. "Should have seen his face at the medal ceremony. That was something else."
"Don't start with that, AJ. I didn't want the damn medal, and you were willing to help me use it for target practice."
"Is that what you do with purple hearts these days?" Rabb asked as he walked in the door, assisted by Mackenzie.
"Lay off, Squid. They won't give you one," she said, shaking her head. "Most of my bruises are from you. No one asked you to cover me."
"Hey, marines are good at ducking for cover," Rabb teased, some private joke passing between the two of them, and Nico gave AJ a pointed look. The other man nodded, resigned. Mackenzie sat down beside Rabb, and he gave her a warm smile before looking around the room. "Guess we didn't do too bad, then."
Nico shrugged. "I don't have an official count yet, but someone will have to answer for all of this. Good men-and women-were injured and died because of someone's games, and that is not going to continue."
"But that is going to wait until you've had a chance to rest," Santino said, taking his arm and pulling him toward the couch. He tried to get free, but AJ gave him a helpful shove in the direction she was taking him. She pushed him onto the seat near the end, giving him the arm rest, and seating herself in the place next to him. She leaned her head on his shoulder and wrapped her other arm around her son. Her daughter gaped at her, and Danielle pointedly ignored it.
"Oh, it is sweet," Francesca commented. "Zio Nico, how glad I am to see you like this."
"I don't have to let you into the fashion shows in New York," he warned, but she smiled serenely and turned her attention on Webb, giving him a look that caused AJ to scowl darkly.
"Okay, what is going on here?" a voice demanded from the doorway. "You would not believe what I had to go through to get into this place. So what exactly happened here and what is with all the emergency services vehicles out there?"
"Jeanette?" Santino asked, getting up and crossing the room to her, hugging her best friend close. "How? Why? You're here. This is..."
"Thank the man in black over there for that. I get a call out of the blue, says you need me, that I should drop everything because it's an emergency, and I did. I got on the first plane I could, and here I am."
"You didn't have to do this," Santino began. "I love you for it, but I'm okay."
"What's that on your arm?"
Santino looked down at the wound. "It's over now, really. You're here just in time for the big reunion."
"Perfect. This is just what I need. I was kind of hoping someone would give me a reason to come back home. You have no idea how much I missed you," Balzarini said, looking around Santino to Nico. "Thank you for the call."
She whispered something in Santino's ear that made her laugh, and she turned around. "AJ Chegwidden, I'd like you to meet my friend, Jeanette Balzarini."
The look AJ gave Nico then would have sent anyone currently serving under him for cover, but Nico just smiled back at him.
Chapter Nineteen